Improvement in whiffletree-hooks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. BELT, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN WHlFFLETREE-HOOKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,651, dated December 16, 1879; application filed January 20, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. BELT, of Washington, in the county of Washington and District of Columbia, have invented certain Improvements in Whifiletree-Hooks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in. whiftletree-hooks or trace-fastenings; and it consists in forming the shank, which is circular in section, with a slot in the outer end thereof, in which is piv 'oted the tongue of a drop-latch having a portion of the tongue projecting a short distance above the upper line of the cylindrical part of the shank, thus forming a stop when the drop-piece is at right angles to the shank, and when the droppiece is extended in a direct linewith the shank the trace, which has in it a hole correspondin g in size with the shank, can be slipped onto it, all of which will be more fully hereinafter described.

Figure l is a top view, partly in section. Fig. 2 isa front view. Fig. 3 shows a part of a trace with circular hole. Fig. 4 is an end view of Fig. 1.

A is a part of a whiffietree-bar in section. B is a trace, having in it a circular hole, I),

made to correspond with the shank represented by O, on one end of which is a screwthread, 0, to fasten it in the bar A. On the ends of A are thimbles a, to prevent splitting the Wood. 0 is a shoulder to bear firmly on The tenon d is made long enough to extend a short distance beyond the outer surface of the cylindrical part of 0, thus forming a stop to the trace B, as the hole in the trace is but little larger than the shank.

In practice, to make the device easily operative, sometimes the corner of the tenon d at d may be rounded off to permit a neater joint, and also the outer corners of the cheeks of the mortise on G to be rounded off at c, for the same reason. In some cases the mortise may be made with a saw of very small radius, so that the curve in end 'of the mortise, as seen in broken lines, Fig. 2, will correspond with the radial distance from the pivot 01 to the corner (1. These are all practical matters, and on their construction depends somewhat the efficacy of the working of the latch to maintain its true position when in use.

I am aware that drop'latches are not new, and I do not claim such, broadly, as applied for fastenings, nor especially to trace-hooks; but in my device, by having the shank and latch of a cylindrical form and the same diameter throughout, the orifice in the trace is circular, and consequently gives more strength to the trace.

I claim The trace-hook cylindrical in form its entire length, having a jointed gravity-latch of the same diameter as the shank, substantially as and for the purpose described.

WM. L. BELT.

Witnesses CHAS. B. R. CoLLnDGn, GEO. F. GRAHAM. 

